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Bell: It's time for Tony Romo to stand up and deliver

You know they are out there. They are lining up, maybe even like it's Black Friday or something. They are large in numbers, loud and sometimes unruly, especially when calling in to participate on talk-radio

You know they are out there. They are lining up, maybe even like it's Black Friday or something. They are large in numbers, loud and sometimes unruly, especially when calling in to participate on talk-radio shows.

The Tony Romo Haters.

If the Dallas Cowboys don't complete this mad dash to the playoffs by taking the win-or-else regular-season finale at Washington on Sunday night, regardless of how the quarterback plays, you know who will get the blunt end of the blame.

Romo can torch the Redskins for 416 yards and four touchdowns with no picks -- as he did in the overtime loss to the Saints last weekend -- and if the Cowboys don't win the primetime showcase and claim the NFC East title, we already know who stands poised as the representative of fault.

Antonio Ramiro Romo.

He understands. This comes with his job description as the marquee face of one of the NFL's most popular franchises. Romo has repeatedly expressed, like a broken record, that it really doesn't matter that he owns a slew of franchise passing marks -- single-season yardage, touchdowns, completions, career 400-yard games and all that jazz -- when quarterbacks named Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach won Super Bowls for that franchise.

Quarterbacks are defined by winning big, and to this point Romo, 32, and his teams have been pretty small when it matters most. Since Romo became the starter in 2006, the Cowboys have won one playoff game. And on an 8-7 tightrope at the moment, they are flirting with a third consecutive season of missing the playoffs.

Has it all been Romo's fault? Of course not. Fair or not, quarterbacks typically get more credit than deserved and more blame. In Romo's case, though, there's still that image of the bumbled field goal snap in the final seconds of a 2006 playoff loss at Seattle that wound up as Bill Parcells' last game as coach. Or the upset loss to the Giants in the divisional playoffs a year later, when Dallas squandered its No. 1 seed.

This season, the lowlights included a four-interception outing against the Giants and a five-pick, primetime disaster against the Bears.

That's the image that Romo is always fighting against, even when he's rolling.

Consider a great one, like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers, and chances are the dominant image is wrapped in success. Like winning a Super Bowl. Or taking over the game and carrying the team on his back.

Truth is, lately that's pretty much what Romo has done -- put the team on his back -- with the Cowboys surging to rally from a 3-5 midseason mark to have a chance to slip into the playoffs on the heel of the New York Giants' collapse.

In the past eight games, Romo has passed for 17 touchdowns with three interceptions --- a stark contrast to his first seven games, when he threw an NFL-high 13 picks. He has protected the football and given his team a chance to win.

The hot streak has flowed with the emergence of Dez Bryant, who in his third season has demonstrated why the Cowboys remained patient and supported through the receiver's assorted off-the-field issues. Bryant has logged seven consecutive games with at least one TD reception, broken finger and all. The career-best numbers (88 catches, 1,311 yards, 12 TDs) underscore that he is more polished, precise and focused.

More to the point, he's in better rhythm with Romo, whose trust in the talented wideout is bolstered by the confidence that is gained with production. When Bryant is where he's supposed to be, Romo will find him. Helps, too, when Bryant breaks arm tackles by DBs like he's Bronko Nagurski.

Throw in the long-term security blanket, Jason Witten, often-steady wideout Miles Austin and the balancing factor that can be had with the violent running of DeMarco Murray, and there are no excuses that Romo won't come to FedEx Field with enough weapons.

With the defense sagging and Robert Griffin III on the other side, it will pretty much rest with Dallas' offense to dictate the flow on Sunday night -- and fair or not that always has so much to do with Romo.

History is not in Dallas' favor. Last year, the Cowboys went to MetLife Stadium with a similar winner-take-all mission and got clobbered by the Giants. They have a reputation of wilting down the stretch. This marks their first winning December since 1996, and with Romo at quarterback they are 2-4 in regular-season finales.

But maybe it's time for Romo. In NFL Year 10 of his improbable journey from Burlington, Wis., (city motto: The town with tall tales) to Eastern Illinois to undrafted free agent to record-setting quarterback, he still has a chance to leave a legacy that doesn't end with his amazing stats and season-ending doom.

History can still be flipped, along with the monkey off Romo's back.

As a bonus, Romo has a chance to upstage RGIII -- the magnificent rookie headed to the Pro Bowl -- in his own backyard.

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-- Who's hot: Matt Ryan. In the past two weeks, the Falcons quarterback completed 80% of his passes with seven TDs and no picks to help his team lock up the No. 1 seed for the NFC playoffs. He had back-to-back games with identical 142.6 passer ratings, set a franchise record with completions on 22 consecutive passes, broke his single-season mark for passing yards (now at 4,481), and he'll head into Sunday's finale against the Bucs needing one TD pass to break the single-season club mark (31) that he shares with Steve Bartkowski. And Ryan was named to the NFC Pro Bowl squad, too. It's been an awesome couple of weeks. Can he take this roll into January? Ryan knows as well as anyone that this season was always going to be measured by the playoffs. So time will tell. Yet Atlanta -- 33-6 at the Georgia Dome in five seasons with Ryan, under coach Mike Smith -- has done its part to secure home-field advantage and a playoff bye. The Falcons (13-2) don't even have to break a sweat on Sunday. But now they had better hope that this smooth-flowing rhythm that Ryan has will be maintained. When they open the playoffs, it will be three weeks since their last meaningful game. Then again, that's a nice problem to have when you've earned it.

-- Pressure's on: Brian Hoyer. A month ago, the Michigan State product was signed by the injury-ravaged Steelers as an emergency option behind No. 3 quarterback Charlie Batch. Now Hoyer is poised to make his first NFL start for the Cardinals on Sunday in San Francisco. He will be the fourth quarterback to start this season for Arizona, which illuminates one of the issues that has plagued the plunging team. While Kevin Kolb's campaign was finished by a rib injury, Hoyer, signed Dec. 10, even gets the nod over healthy John Skelton and Ryan Lindley. In any event, it's a tough task. The 49ers can clinch the NFC West title with a victory, and pass-rushing extraordinaire Aldon Smith (19.5 sacks) is gunning for the NFL single-season sack record. Smith, the first player to record at least 14 sacks in his first two seasons since the sack became an official stat in 1982, is in a race with Houston's J.J. Watt (20.5) to top Michael Strahan's 2001 mark of 22 1/2 sacks. So while Hoyer, a former Patriots backup, will be positioned to put something on tape that might help him get a job down the line, he undoubtedly will be wearing a target that will scream to Smith, "Sack Me!"

-- On the couch: The defending champs. Here's what needs to happen for the Giants to get into the playoffs: 1) Beat the Eagles. 2) The Lions beat the Bears. 3) The Packers beat the Vikings. 4) The Redskins beat the Cowboys. No wonder coach Tom Coughlin implored his team to approach Sunday's finale with the idea of playing for pride, honor and dignity. Barring the perfect-storm miracle, the road to defending the crown has run out of pavement. With a prideful victory on Sunday, the Giants will match the 9-7 regular-season mark they achieved last season -- and illustrate that not all 9-7 records are alike. Last year, the 9-7 team got hot at the right time. Now New York limps with five losses in the past seven games. The past two weeks, the Giants were outscored 67-14. What happened to the defense? The 30th-ranked unit was shredded for 533 yards in last weekend's loss at Baltimore. They are not who were thought they were, the team that so often finds a way when their backs are against the wall. There's also the chance that the Giants could find themselves still on the playoff bubble on Sunday night…rooting for the Redskins, which would be as bad as rooting for the Cowboys.

-- Rookie revue: Luke Kuechly. The Panthers middle linebacker, picked 9th overall from Boston College, has built his strong case for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors with consistency. Kuechly leads the NFL with 151 tackles (93 solos) and heads into Sunday's finale at New Orleans in line to become the first rookie since San Francisco's Patrick Willis in 2007 to lead the league in stops, based on pressbox stats. He's had an NFL-high nine games this season with double-digit tackles, including three contests with at least 15 stops. No other player this season has had more than one game with 15-plus tackles. The tackle tallies, though, as part of a larger picture that reflects well on Kuechly's transition to the NFL. Since Kuechly cracked the starting lineup in Week 5, the Panthers defense ranks fourth in the NFL for yards allowed. The GM who drafted Kuechly, Marty Hurney, was fired a few weeks ago. But it looks like Hurney left the Panthers with a parting gift that could have long-term impact.

-- Key matchup: Adrian Peterson v. NFL History. You might think that for as great as the Vikings running back has been in his comeback season for the ages, breaking Eric Dickerson's rushing record on Sunday might be asking a bit much. Peterson -- 102 yards shy of becoming the sixth player in league history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season -- is 208 yards from breaking the single-season rushing record that has stood since 1984. Too much? Consider that Peterson scorched the Packers for 212 yards when the teams met at Green Bay on Dec. 2, and 208 yards seem a lot more possible. Factor in the home dome and its fast turf, the adrenaline of chasing history and most importantly the opportunity the control-their-own-destiny Vikings have to qualify for the playoffs with a victory, and there's just as much pressure on the Green Bay defense. Unlike the single-season receiving yardage record that phenomenal Lions wideout Calvin Johnson broke last weekend, this prospect is so much better because it will play out in a game that means something for both teams. The Packers need a win to nail down the No. 2 seed and a first-round playoff bye.

-- Next man up: Terrelle Pryor. New Raiders coach Dennis Allen waited until Friday to name his starting quarterback for Sunday's finale at San Diego, choosing Pryor over Matt Leinart as the fill-in for injured Carson Palmer. Here's to making the right move for an otherwise meaningless contest that could mark Norv Turner's finale game as Chargers coach. Leinart has shown what he can and can't do over several years. Now let's see what Pryor can do in his first NFL start. At Ohio State, when he wasn't getting tattoos, he showed some promise as a multi-threat quarterback. He started as a true freshman and led the Buckeyes to a 31-4 record during his tenure, until scandal forced a supplemental draft-entry (3rd round) into the NFL last year. He's been kept under wraps. His only snap last year was a trick play nullified by a penalty. This season, he's thrown two passes and logged all of one rushing attempt. But now he'll get a chance to show his stuff in a semi-real game.

-- Reality check: Tim Tebow and Mike Tannenbaum. If there was ever a scenario for the strapping lefty to start a game for the Jets, this would have been the week. Mark Sanchez was benched and last week's starter, Greg McElroy, can't go in the finale at Buffalo while recovering from a concussion. Wonder if Tebow would have been given the nod if the reports didn't surface after last weekend's game that maintained he refused to operate Wildcat packages after being passed up in favor of McElroy for the starting assignment? Tebow's standing with the Jets has been clear for months, although the other shoe could drop with Mark Tannenbaum, the GM who brought the pass-deficient quarterback to New York in the first place. In any event, perhaps Tebow will get his chance to prove his NFL value with the Jaguars next season. It seems less likely that Tannenbaum will get another chance, given his hand in so many blunders that helped transformed the Jets into such a laughing stock that even diehard fan Fireman Ed bailed.

-- My road to Super Bowl XLVII goes through … FedEx Field, Landover, Md. It's been a long time since a Cowboys-Redskins game has meant so much this late in the season, with Sunday night's NFL finale to determine the NFC East title. Some rivalry flashbacks: Harvey Martin throwing a funeral wreath (sent by Redskins fans) into Washington's locker room after a Cowboys win in the late '70s. The Redskins, wearing battle fatigues as they invaded Texas in the mid-'80s, led by Riggo. RFK Stadium, with the stands literally rocking and swaying in the early '80s, when Daryl Grant and Dexter Manley punished Danny White in the NFC title game. Fresh drama beckons. The X-factor could be Robert Griffin III's right knee, and whether he is as limited as he was at Philadelphia last Sunday, when he threw well, moved to throw well enough, and while wearing a knee brace e, had his threat as a runner extinguished as a precautionary measure. Now, with the season on the line, it seems unlikely that the Redskins will scale back on RG3's package -- unless necessary. Interestingly, a related X-factor revolves around a linebacker who will be chasing RG3: DeMarcus Ware. The Cowboys' big-time pass rusher, nursing shoulder and elbow injuries, hasn't been himself lately. In the past five games, Ware has had just 1 1/2 sacks while also getting some of his reps cut back. Obviously, with the stakes so high, there is little to hold back now. Ware will play with a brace. The physical condition of two of the biggest stars on the stage will fuel quite an intriguing subplot.

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-- Did you notice? The Bengals have qualified for the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history (excluding the strike-shortened 1982 campaign) and will head into Sunday's finale against the Ravens locked in as the AFC's No. 6 seed. There's a chance that Cincinnati can finish with a 10-6 mark identical to the fifth-seeded Colts, but the third tiebreaker (record against common opponents) would swing in favor of Indianapolis. So, with Denver needing to lose against Kansas City to lose its grip on the No. 2 seed, it's likely that the Bengals will open the playoffs at third-seeded New England. Either way, they are working with some momentum. The Bengals have won six of their past seven games, the only blemish coming with a fourth-quarter meltdown against the Cowboys. The could be a dangerous opponent for some heavy favorite to play in January.

-- Stat's the fact: In rolling through a perfect December (4-0), the Seahawks have outscored opponents, 173-47, and with 27 points in Sunday's finale against the Rams can become the fourth team in NFL history to post 200 points in a calendar month. The last to achieve that feat was the New England Patriots, with 217 points in October 2007. The 1950 Los Angeles Rams had a 220-point October. Then there were the Frankford Yellow Jackets, circa 1924. Frankford, representing a section in Northeastern Philadelphia, put up 238 points in November. Talk about coming together fast. This points bonanza occurred in Frankford's inaugural NFL season. Yet it should also be noted that while the '50 Rams and '07 Patriots cracked 200 in five games, the Yellow Jackets hit the mark in eight games -- during an era (before Thursday Night Football) when teams would routinely play multiple games in a single week.